Saturday, March 24, 2012

THE FAUSTIAN HOST is a paranormal, young adult novel that follows Tony Marino through curses like hundred-pound hailstones, day turning to night, and a bleeding Plymouth Rock.

After losing his family and his home, 14-year-old Tony is forced to move from Florida to Massachusetts to attend Kalos Academy, an unconventional school for gifted children. Strange things begin to happen the day he arrives, and soon stories of plagues, monsters, and mystical objects surround him. Refusing to believe superstitions, Tony struggles to explain the occurrences logically, until he comes face to face with a satanic cult determined to bring about the end of the world.

Ultimately, the book examines the existence of a spiritual world beyond the logic and reality of what we can see and experience on a physical level.

How did you get the idea for this book?

The concept for THE FAUSTIAN HOST was melded from several sources. I was intrigued by several recent “secondary world” series like Harry Potter, Twilight, and Percy Jackson, and began to contemplate a different way to create such a scenario. It occurred to me that the idea of a secondary world has existed for millennia in every faith on the planet, and there was already a rich tradition of characters, stories, and creatures. I just tried to incorporate well known tales, lesser known aspects, original ideas, and twenty-first century culture.

Beyond that, I also wanted to create a story that lauded the importance of learning. Our culture increasingly trivializes knowledge that doesn’t help us economically or technologically. The kids in THE FAUSTIAN HOST are fascinated by a number of odd school lessons, and some of those lessons end up saving their lives.

Is this your first book? If not, what else have you written?

This is the first book I’ve published, but the third I’ve written. Novel number two is coming out this November, an adult psychological thriller entitled MINDFRONT.

When did you start writing? Do you have any advice for beginning writers?

I began writing not long after I began drawing. As an artist, I always had a very vivid picture of everything I imagined. I spent my entire junior high career entertaining my schoolmates with a series of graphic novels about a lanky knucklehead named Merdle Diffendorfer. The books featured caricatures of celebrities and all of our teachers. Luckily, they never landed me in detention. I have no idea what happened to those books -- I don’t have any of them.

As far as advice, beyond what everybody always says, I’d encourage defining the things that make you unique, and then weaving that into your writing to set you apart. For example, in THE FAUSTIAN HOST, the kids decide to adopt a village in Ethiopia to improve the health and lives of the people. My church actually did that, and I’ve been to Ethiopia twice, teaching in the schools, giving medicine to AIDS patients, and just trying to show the people that we care about them.

There’s a touching scene in the book where one of the students makes a presentation about the Ethiopia project. I never could have written it and conveyed true passion for the area if I hadn’t been there myself, and that’s an experience that most Americans haven’t had. It’s an ancillary plot point (in this book -- minor spoiler), but one that adds depth to the characters and the story.

Why did you decide to write a book in this genre?

Everything that I’d written in the last ten years was for adults. I wanted to write something that my kids might like. My 16-year-old daughter was my test reader.

Do you plan a sequel or future books?

Yes, the series is entitled APOCALYPSE SIGNS. Book 2 is scheduled to be out by next summer.